FUEL

FUEL

• HISTORY

Ever since the Industrial Revolution took off in the 18th century, vast quantities of fossil fuels have been used to power the economy and deliver unprecedented affluence to huge numbers of people. As we all know, fossil fuels are organic matter made from the remains of flora and fauna subjected to immense pressure and heat deep within the Earth over millions of years. Petroleum, coal, and natural gas are major fossil fuels.coal as a fuel source from early on to compensate for a lack of firewood and charcoal. Not only was a seemingly inexhaustible supply of coal available from easily exploited seams near the surface, but it could be used in its natural form. Japanese governments in the Meiji era (1868-1912), realizing that the use of coal was synonymous with industrialization, encouraged the development of coal mines.

ince the modest beginnings of the oil industry in the mid-19th century, petroleum has risen to global prominence. Initially, kerosene, used for lighting and heating, was the principal product derived from petroleum. However, the development of drilling technology for oil wells in mid-19th century America put the petroleum industry on a new footing, leading to mass-consumption of petroleum as a highly versatile fuel powering transportation in the form of automobiles, ships, airplanes and so on, applied to generate electricity, used for heating and to provide hot water supplies.
The usage of fossil fuels has been increasing in step with economic growth. 

• INVENTORS/discoverer

The theory that fossil fuels formed from the fossilized remains of dead plants by exposure to heat and pressure in the Earth's crust over millions of years was first introduced by Georgius Agricola in 1556 and later by Mikhail Lomonosov in the 18th century.

Although fossil fuels are continually being formed via natural processes, they are generally considered to be non-renewable resources because they take millions of years to form and the known viable reserves are being depleted much faster than new ones are being made.

• ELEMENT COMPOSITION

Petroleum and natural gas are formed by the anaerobic decomposition of remains of organisms including phytoplankton and zooplankton that settled to the sea (or lake) bottom in large quantities under anoxic conditions, millions of years ago. Over geological time, this organic matter, mixed with mud, got buried under heavy layers of sediment. The resulting high levels of heat and pressure caused the organic matter to chemically alter, first into a waxy material known as kerogen which is found in oil shales, and then with more heat into liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons in a process known as catagenesis. Despite these heat driven transformations (which may increase the energy density compared to typical organic matter), the embedded energy is still photosynthetic in origin

• GOOD/BAD EFFECTS

• A bio genic petroleum origin proposes that petroleum is not a fossil fuel
• Bio remediation
• Carbon bubble
• Environmental impact of the energy industry
• Fossil Fools Day
• Fossil fuel divestment
• Fossil fuel drilling
• Fossil fuel exporters
• Fossil fuels lobby
• Fossil fuel phase-out
• Hydraulic fracturing
• Liquefied petroleum gas
• Low-carbon power
• Peak coal
• Peak gas
• Petroleum industry
• Shale gas

Combustion of fossil fuels generates sulfuric, carbonic, and nitric acids, which fall to Earth as acid rain, impacting both natural areas and the built environment. Monuments and sculptures made from marble and limestone are particularly vulnerable, as the acids dissolve calcium carbonate.

Fossil fuels also contain radioactive materials, mainly uranium and thorium, which are released into the atmosphere. In 2000, about 12,000 tonnes of thorium and 5,000 tonnes of uranium were released worldwide from burning coal.^]It is estimated that during 1982, US coal burning released 155 times as much radioactivity into the atmosphere as theThree Mile Island accident.